Nice article and congrats on the good finish. It sounds like a fun race. Although it would probably kill me since I am a California kid who has been ice skating about 4 times and I have never been on anything other than downhill skis. I guess I should try to spend a winter somewhere cold.

I did the european version twice (6k trail running, 15k MTB, 10 k XC Skating) hard & nice

just curious...did you use speed skates, or do you have the skate attachment that goes on salomon xc ski boots? Seems like that would make for a faster transition, since you would have to completely change your foot apparel.

Sounds like a fun event...especially the first 2 legs.

Yes, we use the clip on attachments that you can attach to your cross country ski boot. I have the Zandstra version from 14 years ago....the original version of the clap skate. I do also own a pair of Zandstra speedskates, but I never use them anymore as my feet freeze in them. My Salomon Race Skate 9 boots with the clip ons are much more comfortable and are just as fast.

You can see some of the gear at the following locations:

www.skiandcycleworks.com

www.nordicskater.com

www.peccos.com

I just upgraded to a new pair of skating and classical boots. I went with the salomon race skate/classic 9 boots. I can't believe how warm my feet stay in them. My feet would be blocks of ice within 30 minutes in my 15 year old skating boots. Absolutely great investment. Maybe next winter I'll upgrade to new ski's as well...though I do wonder if I'll see any real difference. I demo'd a new pair of fischer skating ski's last weekend. The biggest difference I saw was having a better edge to push off of, aside from that it didn't feel much (if any) better than my ski's from 1990.

I've also been trying to teach myself the 'new skating' style for xc skiing...since it appears the style I was taught in the 80's isn't nearly as efficient and is becoming a bit obsolete. It's quite a change, but feels stronger, and MUCH more stable to me...provided I'm doing it right.

Do you or anybody else here have any tips for the new skating style??

The new skate ski technique is much better, but realistically it is not that much different than what Gunde Svan was winning with in 1986. No more nose-knee-toe....more of a crunch and speedskater style weight transfer.

Here is some excellent footage from the Nordic World's from Estonian TV to get an appreciation for technique.

http://sport.etv.ee/index.php?019

Hey, thanks for the site. What great coverage. The battle up the hills was amazing.

Two things I've noticed with the new skate technique.

1) It feels like I'm standing much flatter on my foot with more weight on the heals and mid foot. The older style I was up on the balls of my feet much more. It feels as if my feet are underneath me more, as opposed to behind me (with the old style).

2) As I'm poling it feels like my leg bends much more than it used to...as if I'm doing a full body crunch. I thought I noticed this especially when watching the world class guys sprinting using double poling technique in the classical events.

Does this sound correct?

thanks for the link.

You are bang on with the new technique. Weight is a bit more on the heels, riding a flat ski like a speedskater. Upper body does the identical motion to double poling. There is no upper body side to side twist especially on flats and mild uphills (a bit is OK on uphills as you can see from the video).

This allows you to maintain a much higher tempo (RPM), so you maximize propulsion and spend more time on the flat ski. As soon as your skis move out from underneath you, you push out at 90 degrees to your direction of motion and immediately unweigh your push ski as you heels come in line with your hips (ie, you don't push back). As you unweigh your push ski, the glide ski comes in under you with 100% weight on that ski. If your weight is on the ball of your foot, you won't be riding a flat ski and your ski will decelerate. Of course, when you get to steep uphills, your weight will move a bit more forward on the foot, but not like in the old technique.

Hope this helps. Kurt can likely help a bit more. Although I have been skiing for years, my coaching experience is limited to 5 years with kids, not high end elite racers.

thanks for the response. As with anything, I can only get so much from reading about different technique...so it's very helpful to get somebody else's opinion on it....especially when it agree's with my interpretation ;)

Dev,

Nice report on the Winterlude Tri. Looks like thay have changed things with the event quite a bit since I last did it.

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Fleck, the event has changed quite a bit in the past few years indeed. Rick Hellard has done a great job in growing this event, which has a long history, but was almost dead ~6 years ago. You should come up and do it one year for old time's sake !

I am not sure when I last did it - '90, '91. Maybe 92. Can't seem to remember. I do recall that being a great three week stretch with the Winterlude Tri, the Canadian Ski Marathon and then the Gatineau 55 three weeks in a row. I think I did that one year and said never again. The Tri season would seem like a laugh after doing that!

When I last did the Winterlude Tri I seem to recall skating from almost the head of the canal to Dawes Lake( 10K?), then skiing about 10 - 15 K near Dawes lake, then running about 5 miles all the way back up to the Armoury to finish. I recall getting hammered on the speed-skate coming in near the back, then skiing over-top of several hundred people on the ski and then passing a ton more on the run. I think I finished 5th. Crazy race!

Not sure if the bad back could handle any of that type of torture right now.

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Fleck, the speedskating would be tough with your bad back. You did the race the tough way (ie getting dropped during the speedskate). Much easier to stay at the front aduring the speedskate and have a clear path during the ski.

If I recall in 1992 after you did your winter triple, you went on to do Ironman Canada in pretty well 9 hour flat.

I am completing my winter triple this weekend (winterlude tri, Keski 50K skate ski, Defi Boreal 100K Skate ski) over 4 weekends.

I maintain no illusions of this propelling me to a 9 or 10 hour Ironman. Sub 11 and finishing out of the medical tent in my next Ironman would be very nice :-)